05 July 2012

Keemo The Archer

The other project I'm working on is called Keemo the Archer, and it's an award-winning play written and performed by kids with cancer. The Not Impossible Foundation is partnering with Livestrong, and together we have a goal of performing the play 100 times in September, which is National Childhood Cancer month.

Keemo the Archer is told from the perspective of a young girl, Nicole, who battles her cancer in a post-operative dream where a monster is chasing her. It’s scary, and Nicole is worried that she cannot outrun him. With the help of her friends and family, she realizes her inner strength and bravely faces her fears and the disease. Along the way, the play explores other sides of cancer. A little snail loses his shell and worries about looking different than his friends. It is hard to be different, especially for kiddos. In the end, the little snail learns that, with or without his shell, he’s a special snail and his friends like him just the way he is.

Cancer is scary. Having it as an adult is traumatic. As a child? It’s even more confusing, challenging, and difficult to understand. Childhood should be about having fun, running around, hanging out with your friends, and being outside, not in a hospital. We hope that this play can help create a place for children to talk about their feelings.

The script is just a jumping- off point. It’s totally opened-ended and can be taken anywhere the imagination wants it to go. Performances can be high budget, low budget, or no budget. Children can perform on a stage, in a coffeehouse, or in a classroom. They can use props or not; they can be a reading or a puppet show. Heck, they could be a series of drawings or animation. It’s totally up to the kids. This is their play.

Where can we use your help? Well, we'd love it if you spread the word about Keemo. Know kids who might be interested in performing it? Download the script! Pass along the message. (This is a pretty easy one.)

Thank you so much for listening the past two days while I caught you up on what I'm working on. It's really exciting to be partnering with an organization like the Not Impossible Foundation. If you want to say caught up on what we're up to, feel free to follow us on Facebook.

All right, that's all from my philanthropic heart today. Back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. xo.